I wish there were more eateries such as Fresh&Co. available, so many more people might make eating healthy a bigger part of their lifestyle if it was as easily accessible as Fresh&Co. makes it.

On a chilly December day I made a trek to New York City to enjoy some holiday festivities. Unfortunately many others had the same idea and my relaxing day became a grumpy day of pushing through crowds. Fast forward to a time well after the commonly expected lunchtime. I was crabby at the thought of walking through more crowds just to find some crowded fast food place, where there would be nothing healthy enough for me to enjoy. With over 3,500 restaurants in Manhattan the task seemed daunting.

Happily much of aimless wandering headed me in the direction of a Fresh&Co. at 6th Avenue at 48th Street. I could see from across the intersection their large green sign with the word “Fresh” telling me I’d enjoy anything they had in there, because heck it was all freshly made. Fresh&Co. serves pure, clean foods that are free from synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and other additives. Using local, family farms within New York City’s driving distance, including the Union Square Farmer’s Market. They exclusively uses FreeBird and Plainville Farms turkey and chicken, which are free of antibiotics, free to roam, free to eat a natural vegetarian diet and humanely raised. Fresh&Co. even gives back to the community; supporting City Harvest, who rescues food that would otherwise be wasted. As well as Share Our Strength, which focuses on ending childhood hunger in America by 2015.

I could tell all these beliefs were true with the fantastically large selection to create your own Custom Chopped Salad. Which happened to be my lunch choice on this day. My salad had truly endless combinations, if endless combinations are too much to handle they offer Chef Designed Chopped Salads. Once I piled on my salad toppings, which exceeded the four free toppings and then chose my salad dressing (which many organic versions are available). My salad was then coarsely chopped and mixed together, certainly a treat as most salads I encounter force me to cut large leaves while I am eating my salad, this extra step allowed me to dig right into my meal. Once I paid for my salad, I received a large slice of crusty bread to enjoy as well.

Besides Chopped Salads, Fresh&Co. offers fresh side salads, healthy sandwiches on seven grain bread, baguette sandwiches, crisp Panini melts and hearty soups. Though I didn’t arrive in time, they also offer healthy or hearty breakfasts from 6:00am-10:30am. If you can’t make it to one of their locations, no worries, they deliver. Just place your order from their online ordering menu feature.

With such care taken to offer the best ingredients for those who prefer to not have their meals not sit under heat lamps for long periods of time. I can only wish I lived closer to one of their 5 current locations in NYC, with 3 new locations coming soon. Fresh&Co. will certainly be on my eatery list the next time I visit the city. I am so glad to know of this healthy option available.